Whats Going on with Queen Anne's Lace by the Side of the Road in September

Some is still blooming and attracting pollinators.

Some is going to seed.

Here Comes the Sun...Flower 🎶

....and here comes a pollinator that is definitely not a honeybee.

Hmm. Could it be Euodynerus hidalgo, a species of wasp, seen in the Eastern United States and Canada, according to the folks at bugguide.net? Perhaps. 

Wasparazzi 📷

The Cicada Killer above I recognized right away, having first learned about it while working outside at Brooklyn Botanic as a hort intern.  The VIP with the hourglass shape below though that I was stalking like a wasparazzi? I thought perhaps some kind of paper wasp, but my attempts to identify it so far have fallen short.

I Was Chasing a Hummingbird Moth

But wound up with a skipper and a wasp. (The hummingbird moths outwit the smartphone camera's capabilities, with their rapid wing movement.) The wasp, I believe is Monobia quadridens, a returning visitor in the garden. I can't remember when the hummingbird moths were flying at Floyd Bennett last year. But one summer I did see them in July, another mid to late august. This year, this weekend was the first I saw of these clearwing moths that fly by day visiting flowers. It's encouraging to see and then recognize at least a few returning pollinating visitors in the garden.

I think Monobia quadridens wasp with a backful of pollen on Monarda punctata, Floyd Bennett Field

On Sedum, in a Garden in Brooklyn

Bees on sedum, Brooklyn Botanic

Last year in mid-September, it was the honey bee I noticed at Brooklyn Botanic digging on the sedum. This year, the bee again, but so much more. For instance, the wasp below. At this time of year, those things that are blooming, (for me garlic chives, goldenrod, aster and verbena bonariensis, among a few others) are swarming with hungry insects and it's an excellent time to get to know a few.

Below is a thread-waisted wasp, perhaps Prionyx parkeri. It feeds on nectar as an adult, but it is also a hunter of grasshoppers, which it feeds to its larvae. Now I know that grasshoppers are sweet-looking and that my nephew probably loves them, but it is also an herbivore. So this wasp, a predator of a plant-eater is a good guy in the garden.

Thread-waisted wasp on sedum, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn

Another Day, Another Allium, Another Pollinator

Euodynerus sp. Wasp on garlic chives, Brooklyn

If you told me four years ago that if I started growing vegetables that I'd eventually end up spending half my time in the garden crouching, spying on wasps and half my free time at home researching the identities of said wasps, I might not have believed you. But when you fall in love with something, you fall hard and you want to know everything you can about it. The allium I know, but this is the beginning of the garlic chives bloom this season and it's in a family of plants that I love for the eating, the pretty blooms and for the pollinator watching. The wasp I had to research. I won't pretend that I understand the language in the key to identifying the Euodynerus species here yet, (I'm a gardener, not an entomologist) but I think I'm on the right track with Euodynerus schwarzi or Euodynerus megaera. I'll settle for genus Euodynerus, and call the day's garden studying done.

How Much Do I love Thee (Monarda punctata)

It's hard to the count the ways (and most days its hard to the count the wasps and pollinators that visit this fantastic plant in my garden, but in this case these are all photographs of just one happy Brooklyn pollinator). This Monarda still stands and blooms. It lasted in a vase for a week for me, only getting prettier in its decline. It has introduced me to some of the pollinating species that visit and live nearby my garden, and when it blooms it looks like its sporting some kind of leapard print. What more could you possibly ask of a plant in the garden that you aren't going to eat?

There's a lot of attention these days on bees, both introduced and native, which is important, but the wasps (and flies and pollinating beetles) are in need of a little PR campaign too. They're not about to make you any honey and you can't raise them like they were your pets, but they will pollinate your plants and often eat your problem pests in one stage of their life. Recently, I've photographed some of the wasps in my garden with only my phone camera (no real zoom to speak of), which means I've had to get up close and personal with them. And knock on my garden's wooden post, I haven't been stung yet. (Sometimes I even get the feeling that they know that I'm happy to see them and mean them no harm, and that they would like to pose for a picture).

Nine Seconds with a Mason Wasp and Monarda punctata in the Garden

A few days ago, I was at Brooklyn Botanic in the heat and watched as a bumblebee made its way round the Horsemint (Monarda punctata) in the Herb Garden, stopping at each individual flower and methodically moving on to the next. Later, I thought how it was the perfect opportunity to try out the camcorder on my new phone and I'd missed it. But I got lucky at my own garden yesterday, only not with a bee this time, but with a wasp. A new one for me. The ID I'm gonna go with is Monobia quadridens, a Mason Wasp in the same family as Yellowjackets, Hornets and Paper wasps. It's usually seen in open habitats with flowers (in the Eastern and Southern United States), which sounds just about right for the community garden at Floyd Bennett. Because I took the video I noticed the white markings on the head, which I missed just watching it, so I might even be right in calling this wasp a male.

And so here it is below, my first video and first attempt with the phone's camcorder. It isn't National Geographic and I didn't quite get the video to sync properly, but I think my bug-loving nephew will dig it.




That punctata is something else. I'd plant it again and again just for the pollinator show, but I'd also get those amazing flowers.

Of Hornets and Hail

Dolichovespula maculata (Bald-faced hornet)



The Bald-faced hornet isn't really a hornet but tonight it did hail in Brooklyn. Dolichovespula maculata is actually a type of wasp, a yellowjacket. So much for common names. It's doubly beneficial in that it eats the larvae of other insects including caterpillars and even other wasps, and as seen above acts as a pollinator late in the season when it feeds on nectar. The Polistes sp. wasp pictured below is a similar beneficial. I'm not sure of the species but they can be identified when in flight because their legs dangle beneath their body. I'm pretty sure both wasps are natives and doing their thing in the right place. Here's hoping that tonight's wild hail storm hasn't blown down their paper nests and all the ripening produce down at Floyd Bennett.
















Polistes sp. (Paper wasp)